Normal Autistic Film

Miroslav Janek / Czech Republic / 2016 / 90 min.

synopsis

Children with autism don’t suffer from an incurable disease. They suffer because they are neurodiverse in a world set up for neurotypicals. With that perspective, Miroslav Janek embarks on a series of live meetings with a number of children and young adults who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. He gives them the opportunity to express freely their relationship with the world and with themselves, as well as what sets them apart from “normal”. We find that he’s brought us into the company of fun, fascinating people who often suffer because they are labelled as “disabled”. This excursion into the world of autism redefines the seemingly firm boundaries between “otherness” and normality.

“Now let’s talk about Asperger syndrome. What Asperger’s knows how to do. The standard form of Asperger’s syndrome, the milder version, which is what I have, is able to find friends. But the more severe version can’t. He has no friends.”

biography

Miroslav Janek (1954) had his first experiences with documentary filmmaking as an amateur filmmaker in the 1970s. In 1980, he moved to the United States, where one of the jobs he held was an editor for Godfrey Reggio’s films. In the mid-1990s, he returned to Prague. He made such biographical documentaries as Citizen Havel (2008), Burning (2012), and The Gospel According to Brabenec (2014), which were already shown at Jihlava IDFF.